India and da thang

Hi All, back and I can still confirm if you must fly then the Singapore Girls are still a good way to go as opposed to the Mangy Roo (QANTAS). Our trip involved a dash of Singapore, lashings of India and sprinkling of places in between. Thailand was on the agenda but I kinda like supporting those countries that at least have make the attempt at giving the people a choice in government, so Thailand was skipped. Anyone want to comment on why such muted commentary in Indonesia on the coup?

Unfortunately in all the travels, no sightings of our blogger friend
Friskodude who seems to have fallen off the planet he loves so much.

As one who has been know to give a bit of stick to Indonesian Officialdom from time to time, I have to confess that our local Customs and Immigration guys leave the Indian counterparts choking in their dust. It was actually a pleasure to come back to officials neat and tidy in their uniforms and at least displaying some interest in what they do. Just goes to show (as some people have been telling me, everything is relative).

It was also encouraging to see that India has an active environmental program (pictured, writing on the bus says " World's largest eco friendly CNG bus service) although from the limited time in country it would appear like Indonesia it consists of more words than action. One critical point was in all the major cities visited, air quality was much much cleaner than Jakarta. This is not doubt due to the widespread use of CNG on public transport large and small. India also has far smaller population of those smog spewing, two stroke motor cycles that clog Jakarta’s city streets in the absence of a viable and safe public transport system.

People…what can I say…I have never seen so many people in one place trying to occupy the same square meter of space. All in all a very interesting trip.

While I have been away, I see Da Thang has been spewing forth his anti-western bile again. You would think someone who declares himself a Jakarta-based columnist would have plenty to write about in Jakarta rather than 60 year old stories from Australia and how America treats her pets. He does claim to be a writer (I use the term loosely, writer perhaps, a reseacher not) for hire though, it would be interesting to see who is paying for the stories as the anti-western seems to spew forth everytime the Indonesian Government comes under international pressure for some reason or other.

Thanks to Jakartass for the mention whilst I was away. I was a bit sneaky dropping by for a pop shot and the running away again..grin..I am not yet back full time but hope to resume normal blogging within the next week or so…